It’s been an interesting ride watching the Superbowl transform from a grueling fight of titans reminiscent of Vince Lombardi into an overtly commercial enterprise. While the game itself still has meaning to many, the story of in-game advertising has taken on a life of its own, a story that virtually every media outlet is complicit in promoting due in large part to their own self-serving interests.

Americans place a high value on sports, athletes, and the inherent drama of professional athletics, but Americans place an even higher value on commerce. The Superbowl captures these two interests in such a dramatic and effective way that the big game has become a necessity for people all over America, even people who don’t really like football.

In-game ad marketing has evolved to the point where the average person on the street knows that Superbowl ads are the most expensive in the world. For all this simple fact, both the value and public interest in these places have increased dramatically. Just placing an ad on the Superbowl is a story (the Tim Tebow ad). This year we also discovered that not placing an ad at the Superbowl can also be a newsworthy story (Pepsi Bails On Superbowl 44).

With traditional media companies looking for a big win with a desperation never seen before (hello, Internet!), the Superbowl is an annual opportunity for all TV/media companies to harness the full effectiveness of their medium, the unrivaled reach (106.5M tuned to the game) that television can deliver, and of course, most importantly, the simple fact that the only place you can participate in this event, a true national pastime, is on a television. Not to mention, this year we also saw a record for the most viewed commercial (Doritos, with 116.2M views).

This story surrounding the big game hype is one that every media outlet has happily shared with us for years and with each year the story gets a little better and of course a little more interesting. We’re hounded with dollar amounts, with demographics, with statistics on how many people will call in sick from work as a result of “enhanced consumption” during the game, how many chicken wings we’ll eat that weekend, specials on Superbowl commercials (yes, CBS spent an hour on this during prime time), and most importantly, we’re continually asked: who will win? Not the game of course, but who will provide us with the best commercial. USA Today claims it’s Betty White’s, although I personally thought Letterman, Leno and Oprah’s was the best. The more we invest in ads as viewers, the more we enjoy the game, or so we’re led to believe. Even the NFL is in on the act – if you visit their Superbowl site right now, the first thing you see isn’t who won the game, but a link to see all the commercials for the game!

I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret, though: the more we watch the game, the higher the ad rates, which naturally means we’ll be forced to pay more for these goods and services, making a Superbowl ad that much more effective from the point of view of the advertiser, the NFL, and of course, the broadcaster.

http://www.mostmost.net/2010/02/10/the-superbowl-results-are-in-and-record-numbers-have-tuned-in-for-the-ads/